{"id":922232,"date":"2026-10-09T20:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T20:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/922232\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T20:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T20:28:15","slug":"adidas-accuses-australian-label-white-fox-of-trading-off-its-reputation-with-use-of-four-stripe-branding-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/922232\/","title":{"rendered":"Adidas accuses Australian label White Fox of \u2018trading off its reputation\u2019 with use of four-stripe branding | Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Global sportswear brand Adidas claims Australian label White Fox is trying to trade off its reputation by infringing its distinctive three-stripe trademark.<\/p>\n

Adidas is suing the online fast-fashion retailer in the Federal Court for selling clothes with a four-stripe design, which it argues is deceptively similar to its classic design.<\/p>\n

White Fox rejected repeated requests to stop selling and promoting clothing bearing the four parallel stripes, its rival claims.<\/p>\n

During the first mention of the dispute on Friday, Adidas\u2019s barrister Patrick Flynn SC argued the Sydney-based company had been using the stripes as a trademark for months.<\/p>\n

He pointed to a picture of a White Fox-endorsed influencer wearing the company\u2019s four-stripe shorts with genuine Adidas shoes as a promotion that would confuse consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an intention to trade off our reputation,\u201d Flynn said.<\/p>\n

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Adidas has held the trademark for a three-stripe design in Australia for more than 50 years and successfully sued another retailer for infringement over shoes bearing four stripes in 2013.<\/p>\n

It meant the action filed against White Fox in September was \u201cnot uncharted territory\u201d, Flynn noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a pretty simple matter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

White Fox\u2019s barrister Ed Heerey KC said the Australian company would argue the four stripes emblazoned on the label\u2019s clothing were simply decorative rather than a trademark.<\/p>\n

(L-R) Adidas track pants alongside White Fox track pants. Composite: Federal Court of Australia<\/p>\n

He highlighted similar items bearing the four stripes from other brands such as fast-fashion labels Princess Polly, Glassons, and Shein.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously Adidas has a reputation,\u201d Heerey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir own slogan is that it\u2019s the brand with three stripes. Emphasis on the three.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boutique will interrogate whether the use of four stripes was deceptively similar to Adidas\u2019s trademark and whether any consumers would actually be misled.<\/p>\n

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He noted the 2013 judgment in favour of Adidas found it was common for branding to be placed on the side of shoes, but there was no such common practice for clothing.<\/p>\n

Adidas is seeking orders that will prevent White Fox making clothing with four stripes and force it to hand over profits it made on the products.<\/p>\n

Justice Ian Jackman \u2013 brother of one of Australia\u2019s most famous exports Hugh Jackman \u2013 set the dispute down for a hearing in early 2027.<\/p>\n

It marks the first high-profile litigation of this kind against White Fox Boutique, which has become a major player in the retail industry since it was launched in Sydney in 2013.<\/p>\n

Co-founders Georgia and Daniel Contos, who own the company with Daniel\u2019s mother Melina Maceri, focused on social media and influencer marketing to build their brand.<\/p>\n

The online retailer later expanded to the US and UK and generated $542m in revenue in the year to June 2025.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Adidas, which generated a record $39.9bn in 2025, has vigilantly defended its three-stripe trademark across the globe with varying success.<\/p>\n

The sportswear giant recently lost its trademark infringement cases against luxury brand Thom Browne in the US, UK, and Germany.<\/p>\n

The upcoming battle in the federal court could prove to be a battleground for Adidas in a world of fast fashion and prolific imitation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Global sportswear brand Adidas claims Australian label White Fox is trying to trade off its reputation by infringing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":922233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-922232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=922232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}